The path was blocked for a reason

This morning I drove over to the Fox River to go on a walk. The river is very high from all the rain that we (and upriver) has had over the past week or two. It’s at flood stages or past.

Where I go, there are paths on both sides of the river. The path on the west side is several feet higher than the path on the east side.

The park that I’ve been starting from (on the east side) was closed due to the height of the river, as was the park on the other side of the road (same side of the river).

However, there’s a small parking lot on the other side of the river and I generally walk on the west side anyway (there’s no park with bathroom on that side or pavilion). So, I parked there.

After my walk I sat and watched the river, there’s a lot of water and it’s moving very quickly.

As I’m driving away, I notice two bicyclists on the east side of the river. They were lifting up the caution tape blocking the park and bike path entrance and going under. I also notice that the bike path just further down was flooded for a short length, maybe 7 feet. This particular spot is near the bottom of a dam, meaning the water is churning not far from where it’s flooded over the path.

I was worried for them – the path was blocked for a reason. I slowed down and saw them bike through the water safely.

But I wondered if they knew that if they would have taken the sidewalk up about 100 feet and biked through a parking lot they could have safely avoided that water on the path and joined the path about 1/8th of a mile up (seriously, not very far).

And I couldn’t tell, but I wondered if the path was blocked further up because of the height of the river.

I hope that they stayed safe.

And I can’t help but wonder why it was sooo important to bike on that side of the river?

Was there something further up the trail that was their end destination?

Did they not know that there’s a trail that goes north on the other side of the river?

Or did they just have it in their heads that this was the path that they were biking this morning?

And the fact of the matter is, I don’t know their reasons.

But as I was sitting at my desk this morning, wondering what I was going to write you and what this week’s Wednesday LIVE with Evie was going to be, I thought of those bikers.

Now, in your business, you’re probably not going to find yourself in a situation where you’re potentially putting yourself in harm’s way because you’re SOOO focused on something.

But maybe you’ve been sooo focused on a one way of doing something or how you expected something to work out, that you missed that there were other easier options (like the bikers going up the sidewalk and through a parking lot or taking the path on the other side of the river).

So, this week let’s talk about being flexible with our expectations for Wednesday LIVE with Evie. Check out the Facebook event here.

Let me know where you find yourself getting tunnel vision or being overly tied to one way of doing something or a specific expectation.